Sermon #60 (29th May 2022 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)
I promised you a short service today, on this day when we celebrate membership, commitment, and belonging, and hold our AGM. So I’m going to do my best to distil this morning’s message:
The church is us. Yes, us. (point around room, to camera, to self). We are it. We are all there is.
Yes, we’re part of a wider network of churches, our denomination – the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches – is a collection of independent congregations who have descended from the same historic roots and are pulling broadly in the same direction. We are connected to fellow Unitarians and UUs who have evolved in parallel worldwide as well. But knowing that we’re part of a denomination might give you the false impression that there are people ‘higher up’ or ‘at head office’ who are running things on our behalf – who might swoop in to rescue us if we got into a pickle – or bung us a few quid if we were hard up. Surely someone else is in charge? I’m afraid it ain’t so. We’re an independent community. And with that freedom comes responsibility.
And yes, we’re part of a historic religious tradition, this congregation in particular traces its origins back nearly 250 years to Theophilus Lindsey who founded the original Essex Church congregation. We can, if we like, look back with gratitude and appreciation at the great and the good who got us off the ground and who kept the church going over the centuries. But thinking of it in historic terms might have a distancing effect. It might fool us into thinking that these people who came before us were somehow cut from a wholly different cloth. We might kid ourselves that our forebears were the proper grown-ups. Yes, they were responsible enough to be left in charge of a congregation – and, God bless them, despite all the challenges they no doubt faced, they did a good enough job of it to leave us with the resources that are keeping us afloat today – but we might feel a bit daunted by the realisation that it’s our turn now. It’s up to us. We are the church.
The church is, and has always been, made up of people. Just people. Real people. People like us – those of you I can see in 3D here in the church building and the ones I can see in 2D on screen – we are all equally real people. And we have each chosen to be part of this community, to join the unbroken line of people who have kept our chalice flame alight since dear old Theophilus all those years ago.
So let us each proudly claim our place in this historic tradition, and celebrate our connection to the worldwide fellowship of our Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist family, this beloved religious community. And let us each ponder what part we will play in furthering the mission of the church – our church – so that our Unitarian presence can proliferate and flourish for many years to come.
So I invite you now, if you wish, to take a moment to inwardly affirm your membership of this congregation. And I want to share some words from the UU minister Tom Owen-Towle, used in the membership ceremony of his own church. This is what they say to new members, but I reckon it’s applicable to anyone who sincerely pledges commitment to the ongoing life and flourishing of this congregation, whether you’ve been here five minutes, or five years, or fifty:
‘We are happy that you are with us. We gladly share with you in everything that strengthens this congregation. And we stand with you against anything that will injure or weaken it. We believe that membership in our beloved community will enrich and enlarge your life as well as ours. We want your gifts. We offer you ours. Know well that in our membership you are truly accepted to come as you are and to grow who you wish to become.’
So with those words I’m delighted to welcome six new members who are officially joining Kensington Unitarians this morning: Sara Helen Binney, Emily Ford, Cheryl Glinwell, Rachel Hills, Caroline Walters and – technically not a member until now – the former minister of this congregation, Sarah Tinker. We are really chuffed that you have decided to officially join us! Welcome aboard. And perhaps we can have a little round of applause for our new members.
To close this little virtual membership ceremony I’d like to invite everyone – members old and new, near and far – anyone here today who wants to affirm their sense of belonging in this church – to join in with a shared affirmation – ‘We Travel This Road Together’. The words are in the centre of your yellow hymn sheet, if you’re here in-person, and they’ll be up on screen for those of you who are joining from home. And I’ll leave it to you to choose – of course you don’t have to join in at all if you don’t want to – or you might just want to join in with the refrain – but I wonder if we might take it to heart more deeply if we read the whole thing in unison. So I invite you to join in these words of affirmation by Tess Baumberger, ‘We Travel This Road Together’.
Shared Affirmation: ‘We Travel This Road Together’ by Tess Baumberger (adapted)
From the busy-ness of everyday
we gather once a week
to remember who we are,
to dream of who we might become.
We travel this road together.
As companions on this journey,
we share the milestones we meet along the way.
Individual moments of joy and sorrow
become shared moments of comfort and celebration.
We travel this road together.
We share this journey across
differences of belief and opinion
because we value diversity and
because we care for one another.
We travel this road together.
Through times of trial and turbulence,
we contribute as best we can,
supporting each other’s efforts
as we work to fulfil our mission.
We travel this road together.
We are strengthened
by those values that we share,
called onwards by the vision
of a better world for all.
We travel this road together.
Today as we take the next steps,
let us notice our fellow travellers:
The burdens that they carry,
the songs that inspire their hearts.
We travel this road together.
As we gather in beloved community,
let us open the holy havens of our hearts,
Let us share the sacred places of our souls
For we are pilgrims who share a common path.
We travel this road together. Amen.
Sermon by Jane Blackall
An audio recording of this sermon is available:
A video recording of this sermon is available: